We were lucky to catch up with Nate Westgor recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nate, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?

I think it’s important to be true to yourself in any endeavor. Who are you, or who do you admire should be a foundation for the start up business, profit is important but being happy is an achievable goal. We see our industry “over supporting” instruments made in China because it’s easy.
Anyone who imports “instruments” should generally expect a 20% failure rate and the frustration of constantly adjusting inconsistently made guitars can make selling them an awful job. But selling cheap stuff is just too tempting, with big makeups and cheap price points. But the customer inherits really bad re-sale on a cheap guitar nobody wants to fix. Aim higher, be proud of what you market and sell.
Willies Guitars only offers only quality made USA instruments. I love my job surrounded by only instruments that inspire. A musicians main job is pleasing tone and sharing emotion with the listener. A student might need something cheap at first, but a musician needs quality. A well made guitar can take your breath away as an art object and as an instrument that inspires sonically making you sound perhaps better than you really are… so you grow quicker as a player. Not just for a working musician but for anyone interested in it as a hobby. Play one simple chord on a cheap guitar, it’s ok, then play the same simple chord on a great guitar and all the complexities of that chord, the overtones, the strength of each note all come forward with ease. You sound like a pro, you’ll play better, and faster. It’s like a great cup of coffee compared to a coffee that’s been sitting on a burner all day. They are both coffee but the better one makes life much better that morning.

We invented Jazz music 100 years ago after the last Pandemic during the roaring 20’s, then in the next decade we taught the world Blues Music, Country Music then we invented the child of all those styles, that happy music called Rock and Roll. Thank you Elvis.
America invented the instruments to make it all possible. Playing guitar.. what other job in the world has customers that stand on tables and scream for more.. More guitar music. Being a musician is a blast.
American History: C. F. Martin was making acoustic guitars for 30 years by the American Civil War. Think of that, they made guitars 60 years before the zipper or automobile was invented. They made guitars 70 years before Gibson was even a company.
Guitar hero’s like Hank Williams, Elvis, Bob Dylan all played American made Martins guitars. It’s no surprise that pre 1965 Martins increase in value 10% a year on average, why? Old C. F. Martin guitars are American icons, skillfully made of old growth wood, and old trees are pretty much gone these days.. You can’t replace a 700 year old tree. And if Hank Williams used an old Martin guitar… well, you can guess what drives others to seek old Martin guitars out.
Then there is pre 1965 electric guitars made by Fender and Gibson. Rock and Roll icons. Think of Keith Richards, John Lennon, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Hendrix. The guitars seen on classic album covers and on stages are just plain sexy to look at and to listen too.
Want to sound awesome? Buy something Awesome.
So our industry seems to thrive on selling imports.. that’s fine. But myself and my crew are happier because we love what we do even if we make less money.
Old American made guitars are internationally known as cool, you see it in advertising. Do you wanna portray coolness? Show a guitar in your ad.

Nate, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I made a living with music after loosing my parents in high school. I spent my 20’s playing, traveling and then when i went home or in-between night time gigs I did guitar repair. I took a stage name because a band I was in, insisted I use a fake name, as they had a real passionate following, including a few stalkers. Willie DelMar (my stage name) was a show off when on stage, I dressed way up and we did not just play our butts off, we entertained.
Look up Jimmy Hendrix wiki page, he said he learned to play with his teeth because he had too, you had to stand out from other bands to get paid well.
But after the gig Willie went back to being Nate, I went home and continued to be my normal rather quiet and shy self. What a great life! It’s like being a comic book hero with your alter ego at the ready. Of course real life Supermen and Superwomen need to practice, practice, practice. But having a “stage name” created a life balance, when on stage, be on stage in full force, but have the discipline to turn your ego fully off.

Here is an early story of how i started my current path I rarely tell. One day, as a repairman for a big store I worked at, I got a call from the band “Genesis” during the height of their popularity and they wanted me to cure a tuning issue they had with a guitar synthesizer. They techs were under stress from the previous night in Milwaukee where they got yelled at for gear being out of tune in front of 45,000 fans. So i said sure, I can help and under great pressure with record company executives hanging around and nervous techs inside the band overseeing me while i worked: “are you sure you know what you’re doing?” (Oh sure, no problem… gulp)
I fixed the issue and taught them how to fix it down the road. Easy really. But I stepped up to help, the show must go on and they needed someone who could add confidence, I took it quite seriously. And I got in big trouble from my boss at the music store called “The Sound Post” in Chicago.

The trouble was it took 6 hours away from work and I called my boss after 2 hours and he said “get home now or you are fired”.. oh man. No cell phone back then, thank goodness, because after getting fired on the phone it still took another 4 hours to empty the trucks and find the problem guitar. I worked on it right up to 15 minutes before show time. (No stress there, nope)
So at the end, just before that band was going on stage they asked me: “how much we owe you?” I need $500 AND 10 pairs of tickets because I just got fired for this. I helped you.. please help me. They were not happy, but my fix worked and the new fangled guitar synth worked great for 3 sold out huge stadium shows.
I got back to the store – in Chicago- and i was a hero, passing out tickets for the owner and his family. Whew.. not fired..yet again.

It’s a small world in music, I got lots of calls after that and maybe an out sized reputation. But touring bands kept calling. Billy Joel’s band, Bruce Springsteen’s band and others all rolled in. When I moved to St Paul in late 80’s those bands kinda followed me. Thats about the time when old guitars made in the 50’s really started going up in value. I saw a need. Pro musicians needed better service. Honest trades. They need understanding of how hard the job is behind the glamour.

I figured I will call it Willies American Guitars, after my old stage name I was given. I handled only American made stuff, especially used and older vintage stuff. It’s been 40 years now and I still get calls from these big names for vintage guitars or value advice, or to find “cool” gifts.
My wife Shelley and I have great stories like parties with The Rolling Stones or hanging with The Who and we have many dear friends in the business.
For me, my 17 year old self is happy. Look at us at 67 years old, kinda cool.
Soon I will retire and I hope someone else can be as eager to help the guitar world as we have been these last 37 years. But I’d never sell to corporate America, no money is worth that. But it’s time to write my epic last chapter to my life’s book. Hang with my beautiful wife more, see my kids and grandkids more and play guitar and write songs more. Yes, very soon it’s time to retire and reflect.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Stories of resilience come easy for business owners. We can smell a recession from a mile away. The great recession was nerve wracking. The era of 9-11 was hell but we all got thru it. Now we live in a new age of media where “clicks” are more important than honest information. So headlines can misinform you, the stock market goes down one day and the media describes it as a “crash”, the very next day it goes up and the market headline is “the market has best rise in months”. You have to not worry and push yourself away from the noise and have a macro long view. Relax.
If you did not grow up with some family wealth it can be very stressful to ride out the “dumps” when debt is higher than normal and / or you’ve taken on too much risk. Honesty and humor is important. Finding new ideas inside your scared self is important. Meditation can help, sometimes thru walks in nature or playing an instrument helps clear the mind for new ideas.

Covid was scary, but ended up being the best years for us in the guitar business. It’s said now 25% of the adult population play guitar (or own a guitar) Business was oddly great for our industry during that nightmare. Ultimately and I was able to buy a nice building, with solar power and a parking lot dead center in the Twin Cities because people needed to stay home, playing guitar was helpful and we saw many many new people buy guitar, upgrade guitars or just re-focus on music. So it started as really frightening, but ended with a nice light at the end of a long dark tunnel.
This morning I was playing an old Gibson ukulele I own, I focused on making simple chords and hearing the beautiful tone, looking close at the old Honduran Mahogany wood and the hand made detail in the little instrument. It settles your nerves.
My mantra now at this age is “All is well” I say it over and over, until it’s true. All is well. The sky did not fall, my breakfast was yummy, I love my little old ukulele, i love my wife, i love that birds are coming in now for spring.. It’ll all be ok.
All is well.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

Starting Willies American Guitars had been an idea i had considered for years. I read a book called “The start up entrepreneur” by James Cook. It was key to my start up. I went to work for Jim for a while, he was nice to me. I found a 500 sq foot location and gave the owner a silver dollar and asked him to hold it for 30 days. I put up everything I owned as collateral, my little house, car and guitar collection. I had 12 guitars and 13 old Fender amps to start. That was it.
Now my clients include The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt and many many more. I love Cheap Trick and Los Lobos, my 2 favorite bands.
I am honored to be of service to them.
My advice to any new business is not just find a bank but find a good banker. Good bankers sometimes go to other banks and switch jobs, stay in touch with them. Here is a story:
My bank, many years ago, had lost a banker and they were looking for another. Yet there was the bankers assistant that really did all the work for the previous banker. She was great. But they were very much an “old boys club” bank and she was a.. w w woman. (they shuddered to think)
So I wrote a letter to the president of that bank saying: Mary did all the work for your old banker who quit. Don’t be stupid, hire Mary. It helped we were known to work with big stars so letter carried a bit more weight perhaps but I felt the bank was being stogy and old by “looking” for a good banker and here was this smart, savy woman who was right under their nose. She finally was given the job.
Today Mary is the vice-president of a new bank called Sunrise Bank. She framed that letter from 25 years ago. I trust her, she trusts me.
So stick with a solid banker, and get rid of any bad ones even if you gotta go thru the painful process of switching banks. Bet on yourself, even if you don’t feel brave, show your brave side. Smile a lot. Listen a lot. Relax, you got this. Really. Take a deep breath and say it with me: All is well. All is well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.williesguitars.com
• Facebook: Willies guitars facebook
• Youtube: new helpful videos 3 times a week Willies Guitars on YouTube

Image Credits

Nate back stage with Rolling Stones 2 of Ronnie Woods guitars
With Sheryl Crow
With Peter Wolf of J Girls band
With Jackson Brown
My wife Shelley with one of Sheryl Crows more famous guitars.
The black guitar is Jimmy Pages guitar he used on the first 2 Led Zeppelin records, he lost it in 1970, we returned it in 2015. Great story to look up.